This invention relates to yard hydrants and more particularly to an improved valve housing and valve assembly operable relative to the inlet flow to the hydrant nozzle and the outlet drainage from the standpipe.
This invention is also concerned with improved design features for a yard hydrant valve housing and valve assembly affording high efficiency in operation and especially suitable to fabrication from plastic materials for economic advantages in a competitive market.
The basic hydrant art goes back many decades and the development of the individual yard hydrant is exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,649,111, 3,523,549 and 3,672,392. Characteristically, the yard hydrant includes a valve below the frost line for delivering water from a supply pipe through a standpipe to an above ground nozzle head and has a drain hole in the valve housing so that when the valve is closed, water in the standpipe can drain to surrounding ground and thus not freeze in the pipe in cold weather. In such cases, the valve functions, when open, to close the drain hole and, when closed, to open the drain hole. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,926,206 and 3,926,207 illustrate yard hydrants without drain holes but with self-contained reservoir means for containing drainage from the standpipe. The present invention is concerned with yard hydrants utilizing the drain hole structure.
The market for yard hydrants is highly competitive and while the efficiency of such devices is highly developed, they have been relatively expensive to manufacture especially when made of metal as has been the traditional material used. U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,549 discloses one endeavor in yard hydrants designed for the use of plastic materials and one of the important objects of the present invention is to provide improved design features for the use of such materials in the yard hydrant valve housing to further increase the economies in manufacture and at the same time to improve the efficiency and trouble free operation thereof.
More particularly, it is an object herein to provide a yard hydrant valve housing of the above class that includes a valve receiving bore having a lateral drain hole and with the bore surrounded by spaced communicating water passageways in a novel arrangement whereby the opening and closing of the valve alternately opens and closes the drain hole and passageways.
A further object is to provide a yard hydrant valve assembly as characterized which does not require the use of conventionally used removable components such as springs, cup washers, 0-rings and the like.
The foregoing objects and such further objects as may appear herein, or be herinafter pointed out, together with the advantages of this invention will be more fully discussed and developed in the more detailed description of the accompanying drawings.